MEAP results don't tell whole story (edit)

Is your child learning enough to someday make the cut for a good college? Is your child's school doing its job in educating your little one?

Expect those questions to land squarely on the front burner sometime soon with the release of this year's MEAP scores.

So, let's offer fair warning to any parent who is reading this: Those scores are going to look ugly.

State education officials have changed the game on local schools, setting a much higher standard for students to be considered "proficient" in all subjects. Past scores would routinely show 80 percent or more of a school's students made the grade; this year's results will nosedive to somewhere below 50 percent for most schools.

Michigan Center schools Supt. Scott Koziol put it this way: "You have to put it into perspective. A score of 39 this year does not mean the same thing that a score of 39 did in previous years."

School critics will say the low scores are further proof of the decline of American public education. Or perhaps it's further proof of the challenge in settling on a true, accurate measure for what happens in the classroom.

Educators will note, correctly, that test results are a snapshot, not the definitive barometer, of how well students are learning. Some smart kids do not test well. Others might be sick, emotionally troubled or in some other way distracted during test time.

The process of learning, too, is not a straight line for many youngsters. They can go months, or years, without making great bounds forward before the light turns on. ...

We believe firmly that tests have great value in measuring individual students' progress and in assessing how well teachers and schools are doing their job. Still, in Michigan, the art of selecting the right tests — and understanding what those tests should reveal — is being refined....

Parents and the community should look for these MEAP results with interest. Talk to your child's teacher if he or she is not proficient. Ask your principal what your kid's school is doing to improve.

Don't despair at the lower numbers, though. They tell part, but not all, of the story.

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